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Kenya companies must learn from challenges faced during the pandemic to move to the next level of digital transformation, an industry round table has proclaimed.

The roundtable which culminated to the launch of CEO perspectives on  The State of Digital Transformation in Kenya, 2021 report, said financial institutions must adopt technology to cushion themselves from challenges in the internet of things.

While these changes accelerated Kenya’s digital transformation, they also increased vulnerability online, with cyber criminals leveraging on these shifts to exploit loopholes in these tools and platforms. Consequently, there was a surge in phishing attacks, data breaches, fake news, ransomware, impersonation, false publications, incitement, online fraud, cyber bullying and harassment.

Gaps still exist

Carole Kariuki, Chief Executive Officer Kenya Private Sector Aliiance (KEPSA) says some organisations were pushed to adopt digital transformation to keep up with business trends but there are some gaps. “Gaps remain, including costly digital infrastructure, taxation of IT equipment, devices and telecommunication services, as well as cyber security threats,” said Carole.

Citing a multi-sector report “The Future of Business, Starting Today”, she said that whereas banks had been considering partnerships for a while, the pandemic forced them to speed up the process, especially on interoperability.

The report further shows that four out of every five Kenyan CEOs plan to establish data hubs in their organisations within the next one year to automate decision making.

The survey that interviewed more than 50 CEOs shows that organisations plan to upgrade their IT departments to include data scientists who use artificial intelligence tools.